Azurite
by mooch86
Summary: Bella meets Edward on her Birthday and feels an instant connection with him, but will their romance be as simple as she hopes or will she find that she ends up caught in a situation too far out of her own control? AU, AH.


**Many thanks go to Rebecca who encouraged me to write this fic in the first place.**

**Azurite**

**Chapter One**

I'm standing in front of the mirror in my hallway, running my hands through my long brown hair, twiddling my curls around my fingers as I try to sit them over my shoulders properly while I slip my feet into my stilettos, cursing to myself as I stumble forward slightly. I shake my head to myself, hearing the black cab I ordered beep outside the front door of my basement flat for the third time in about thirty seconds and quickly smear some lip gloss on myself before picking up my bag and throwing it inside. I squirt some perfume onto my wrists and neck and then open the front door. "For fucks sake," I mumble, seeing that it is absolutely pissing down outside and so run back into my flat, picking the gossip magazine I had been reading this afternoon up from the coffee table. I then open it up and place it over my head before running up the steps to the waiting cab. I can't be bothered to carry an umbrella around with me all night so the magazine will just have to do, despite the fact that I know I look like a complete idiot, I don't want the rain to create the giant frizz ball my hair will turn into if a slight bit of moisture touches it.

As soon as I get in the cab I look over to the cabby and can see him rolling his eyes at the fact that I had obviously been making him wait longer than he thought was acceptable, but then he glanced back at me in his rear view mirror and his demeanour instantly changed. Suddenly he seemed ten times friendlier in just as many seconds.

"Where to love?" he asks in his East End accent, combining it with a cheeky grin as he indicates to pull out of the parking spot he has been occupying.

I sink back into the leather chair and give him the name of the bar I'm meeting my friends in, well in fact I should have been there about five minutes ago, but never mind. I can feel the cab driver's eyes flicking back at me in the mirror and I do my best to ignore him while I stare out of the window and watch the city lights as we fly past several landmarks. I love this city so much, I truly don't think that I would ever be happy living anywhere else in the world. London is home to me; it always has been and always will be. There's just something so magical about it, the atmosphere is unlike anywhere else I've ever been. We stop at a red light and I watch, completely enthralled as a man and a woman walk together hand in hand, looking so in love as they giggle with each other. He lets go of her hand and pulls her in close to him as he wraps his arm around her waist, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose and she completely melts into his side. I can't help but sigh at that and wring my hands together in my lap. Is it so unfair for me to want something like that so badly? Is it wrong for me to want someone's hand to hold, to have someone to laugh with, to share this life I've built for myself with?

"So are you off out for a special occasion?" the cabby asks as the light changes to green and the cab speeds forward yet again.

I shake myself free of my thoughts and release my hands, not wanting to dwell on them. Alice constantly told me that the right person was just around the corner, and usually, she had some kind of premonition about these sorts of things, especially where I was concerned, so I wanted to believe her. The only thing was, is that she had been saying that for like a year now and I was starting to have doubts about whether her intuition was working this time around. No one of particular note had entered my life in a long time. "Actually it's my birthday today," I tell the cab driver, smiling at him through the mirror he keeps looking into. Growing up, I categorically hated celebrating my birthday, but now that I was older, it was actually a really good way of getting all my friends together for an evening.

"Well happy birthday then!" the cab driver says as he turns down Cromwell Road, heading towards the West End.

I smile at him again. "Thanks," I say as I continue looking out of the window as we pass the Natural History Museum, and head further down the road towards Harrods. I love that building, it's so grand and old and the twinkling lights make it seem like something out of a fairytale. I can't help but smile as we pass it, and then start to get really excited at the prospect of seeing all my friends together for the first time in what feels like ages.

"So are you meeting up with anyone special?" the cabby asks again and manages to divert my attention away from the spectacular buildings we're currently passing.

"Lots of special people actually," I return, because each and every one of my friends was incredibly special in their own right. We weren't the most conventional of people, quite honestly, I don't think anyone in their right minds would actually ever think to put us together in a ground of people they would label as friends, but we worked as a group, each person brought a different dynamic to it.

"Anyone in particular though?" he asked with a glint in his eye and I can't help but laugh at him.

"You're really nosy, do you know that?" I giggle at him.

"Well love, it kind of comes with the job description."

I couldn't argue with that one. "Well no, there isn't anyone in particular since you ask," I return.

"A pretty girl like you? Not got a boyfriend then?" he asks in a rather shocked tone.

"No boyfriend," I reply. It wasn't through lack of trying. Honestly, I'd been on just as many dates as the next person, it's just; I was looking for something that didn't seem to be out there. If I found someone clever, they were exceptionally boring. If I found someone funny, I laughed constantly but felt no spark. I know the perfect man doesn't really exist but how many compromises was I going to have to make?

Eventually, the cab driver pulls up outside the bar and I hand him a twenty pound note, telling him to keep the change, before I grab the soaking wet magazine from the seat next to me and place it over my head again. I run into the bar, giving the doorman my name and he rolls his eyes at me before he opens the door. I wonder for a brief second why my name caused that reaction from him, but then I hear the reason and shrug my shoulders at him in a half apologetic kind of way.

I walk inside and follow the noise, instantly spotting my friends who are sat around a table on the right hand side of the bar. Emmett spots me first and yells my name across the room, which causes me to shake my head at him before he beckons me over. "Do you really need to be that loud?" I ask as I kiss his cheeks and he pulls me into one of his bear hugs, which I return.

"Of course we do Bells!" Emmett says as he pulls me away from him and looks me in the eyes. "Happy Birthday Jelly Belly."

I can't help but roll my eyes at his nickname for me, which he has called me ever since I was about seven years old. "I thought we agreed to drop that name once I turned twenty five?"

"No Bella, you insisted that I stop calling you that, I never agreed to it. You so know that I'm going to be calling you Jelly Belly when you're ninety years old, all wrinkly and grey haired. I can't wait," Emmett teases. "Now I'm going to go and get the drinks in. Your present's at my place so you're going to have to swing by and pick it up at some point okay?"

I nod my head at him and as soon as he releases his hold on me, Alice yanks me down on the sofa next to her and pulls me in close to her. Alice is someone you can't help but like, she has the most amazing personality, even if she is a little bit weird, but she gets on with anybody and wouldn't hurt a fly. Once she lets go of me she hands me a big bunch of turquoise balloons which have two pebbles being used tie them together at the ends of their string. I look up at Alice as I raise one of my eyebrows at her in question, wondering what the hell she was doing handing me some stones.

"Don't give me that look Bella. It's a rose quartz and an azurite stone. The rose quartz is a stone for unconditional love and the azurite is to help open yourself up to new experiences," Alice said. "I can just feel that this year is going to be really special for you."

I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from laughing at her. Hadn't she said the exact same thing the year before? I look down at the stones and officially think that she's lost her mind. But instead of telling her this I manage to remain grateful, after all, a new experience wouldn't be so bad, my life just seems to revolve around work at the moment, given that the dating game hasn't been going my way at all recently. "Well thank you Alice, I'm sure they'll come in useful." At least the balloons matched my dress.

I said my hellos to everyone else at the table, pleased that all my friends were together for a change before Emmett came back with several bottles of champagne. He poured it into the glasses and began to sing happy birthday to me in his loudest voice, which caused everyone else to join in too and lead to me blushing furiously. I kept my eyes on the drink which had been placed in my hands while they finished their chanting, before we all clanked glasses and I took a large sip, willing the burn in my cheeks to die down.

After another glass of champagne had been thrust towards me, I started to feel much more relaxed now that I didn't feel like the disapproving eyes of the whole bar were on our table. We'd all calmed down somewhat and were now jabbering away about everything and nothing all at the same time. However, I couldn't shake that feeling that someone's eyes appeared to be on me, it was like I could feel someone watching me so intently that I could feel my skin burning from the sensation of having this pair of eyes on me. I glanced up as I placed my drink down on the table and looked over in Emmett's direction but he was deep in conversation with Jessica about something. I frowned as I tried to find the pair of eyes which seemed to be trained on me, my own darting from left to right as I looked around the bar, and then suddenly I saw him.

He was sitting up at the bar on one of the tall stools which he had swung around on so that he was facing the table I was sat at. His suit jacket had been removed and the sleeves of his crisp white shirt were rolled up to his elbows. My eyes followed down his left arm, finding that his hand was clasped around his drink and I couldn't help but notice how long his fingers seemed as he fiddled with his glass. His other hand had been placed casually on his thigh, resting on some beautifully tailored trousers. My eyes slowly moved up his body until they rested on his face and I almost gasped at how gorgeous he looked. He had an incredibly strong jaw line, fabulous lips and his hair was just incredible. It looked so messy but yet so sexy at the same time, like a mane of something completely untameable which I found myself longing to run my fingers through. I found myself almost hypnotised by him as my eyes moved away from his hair and then rested on his own, which were almost glaring at me. I quickly looked down at my drink which I grabbed from the table and then sunk back into the sofa I was seated on, wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. I felt like I needed some kind of reality check, so I slowly raised my gaze again, half expecting him to have disappeared, but no, he was still there, and was still looking right at me. I watched, completely mesmerised as he raised the glass to his lips and took a sip of the drink, and then lowered it back down again. I felt my heart racing in my chest; all of a sudden I felt far too hot and couldn't hear a thing, aside from this weird buzzing noise inside my head. Everyone in the bar seemed to slip away until all I could see was this man...

"So Bells, what did Angela get you for your birthday, or haven't you seen her yet?"

I almost jumped when Emmett slipped his arm around me as he slid onto the sofa next to me, breaking my trance with the mysterious man at the bar. I had to close my eyes for a brief second as I adjusted and brought myself back to the present. "I'm seeing Angela, Ben and the girls tomorrow, as well as Mum too." I say as I take a sip of my drink and throw a smile over at him. Emmett has been my best friend for forever. Our parents were best friends and I always joked that I'd had no choice but to like him, but in all seriousness, he was the most amazing friend anyone could ever have. We had the same attitudes, both working hard in our careers to get to where we wanted to be, both as ambitious as each other. However, he seemed to be a little luckier in love than me, but he still hadn't found 'The One'. We did have one of those packs in place where if we were both single at thirty, we were marrying each other. However, thirty seemed to be getting closer and closer nowadays, maybe it was time we re-evaluated that little agreement.

"I wonder what Miss Perfect will be buying you this year?" Emmett said as he rolled his eyes. It was no secret that he and Angela didn't get on at all. Ever since she had married Ben, she seemed to have changed completely. Gone was the carefree woman who had been fun and full of life, and in her place was this pre-packaged Stepford Wife. Spending time with Angela seemed to be more of a chore these days, but she was still my sister at the end of the day, and of course I loved her despite the fact that I didn't see her as often as I perhaps should.

"Who knows, but no doubt you'll be getting a phone call from me tomorrow and we can have a giggle about it."

"I want you to call me as soon as she gives it to you; I can't wait to see what ridiculousness she thinks you need to make your life more like hers," Emmett said with a chuckle as he grabbed the bottle of champagne and proceeded to fill everyone's glasses with what was left.

I can't stop moving my eyes over to this man and every time I do I'm met with the same intense stare of his. I'm feeling rather giddy and can feel this wave of confidence rush through me. I flick my hair over my shoulder and take another sip of my drink as I wonder whether I should act on this or not?

"Oh he's cute!" Alice whispers in my ear.

"What?" I respond and then instantly twist myself around so that I'm facing her and not the mysterious man at the bar.

"The man you keep looking at. Actually he's really hot!" Alice answers.

I glance over my shoulder and follow her eyes until they rest on him again, pleased in a way that she's recognised that he was there too, at least that proves that this perfection sitting at the bar isn't just simply a figment of my imagination. I watch as he shakes hands with some other man, surprised that I hadn't noticed that he'd been sitting with someone. I quickly then turn my head back before he catches me staring at him, because although he is totally drool worthy, I don't actually want him to catch me drooling over him too many times tonight.

"He keeps on looking over here too. I knew those stones would work! I should have given them to you sooner," Alice whispers to me.

I raise my eyebrow at her incredulously, how someone could think that a random stone could hold so much power was completely beyond me, but then again, this was Alice I was talking to. "Maybe Alice, you should get some for yourself," I say as I gulp down the rest of my champagne and place it on the table, smiling down at her because she really deserved to find her 'someone special' more than anyone. "I'm off to the loos," I announce before I squeeze my way out of the table, my bag clutched in my hands.

Once in the toilets, I completely empty my makeup bag all over the shelf in front of the mirror and touch it all up. "God I'm being so fucking ridiculous," I mutter to myself as I take a step back and straighten out my green silk dress and faff around with my hair as I purse my lips together. However, I've made the conscious decision to take the long route back to my table, which just so happens to take me past the bar where the gorgeous man was sitting. I can't help but roll my eyes at my immaturity and the fact that I'm talking as if he's waiting there for me, for all I know he could have upped and left by now.

With that thought I quickly gather all my makeup and zip it back up in the bag before placing it in my purse. With one last glance at myself in the mirror, I then shake my head at my reflection before walking back out to the table. It feels like I'm walking in slow motion or something, all I can hear is the clanking of my stilettos on the floor and I'm looking down at the ground for some obscure reason, which I quickly correct. I glance over at my table and gracefully, and with as much elegance as I can muster, I breeze towards the bar. I move my eyes for what was meant to be a brief second over to where I had last seen the man sitting and _fuck _he's looking right at me. I can feel myself begin to fluster, and I panic as I debate whether I should hold his gaze, or move my eyes away again. However, it seems my eyes have reached a conclusion of their own accord as I can't seem to move them away from him. My feet keep travelling towards him and just as I'm about ten feet or so away from him, I finally feel like I regain some semblance of control over myself and I tear my eyes away from him and move them down to the floor before looking over towards the table again. I take a deep breath as I glide past him and inhale the musky scent of his aftershave which, being my biggest weakness almost makes me melt on the spot as I smell him. But I somehow manage to force my feet forwards even though I can literally feel his eyes burning holes into my skin.

"Happy birthday."

I freeze. God his voice has to be the sexiest sound I've ever heard in my entire life. I feel like jumping up and down at the fact that he's even acknowledged me in the first place but instead I take a deep breath and turn around to face him, plastering what I hope to be a sexy smile on my face. "Thank you."

Now that I was closer to him I take this opportunity to run my eyes over his face quickly. I'm struck by how intensely green his eyes are and how perfect his skin is. He looks tired but he's devilishly handsome, and is obviously incredibly sexy.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asks in that silky smooth voice of his, and I feel my knees weaken a little. I follow his gaze down to his now empty Scotch glass and watch as he swirls the remaining ice cubes around and around in circles as they melt in the glass.

I want to say yes, but instead, "No thanks," comes out of out my mouth. "I'm actually here with my friends celebrating my birthday and I should really get back to them." I watch as he lifts his eyes up from his empty glass and they meet mine, and his face twists into this devastatingly sexy smirk and I wonder why those words made him smile so much. I then realise that his first words to me were 'happy birthday' and so of course he knows it's my birthday, which he now feels the need to tell me, if only for the reason to allow my cheeks to turn even more crimson than they are already.

"I know it's you birthday," he smirks at me, his eyes twinkling in the dim light that surrounds the bar. "Look, I've had a really great day at work, I'm celebrating this huge deal I've just closed, so why don't you let me buy you one drink and we can celebrate together for a while, unless you feel you absolutely have to get back to your friends, that is?"

I try to open my mouth to protest, but before I even get the chance to think about an answer, he starts talking again.

"So what's your favourite drink, birthday girl? Mojito? Vodka champagne?" he asks as he twists around in the stool and grabs the barman's attention, before glancing at me over his shoulder.

I shake my head at him and can't help but smile as I slip myself into the empty stool beside him. "I actually like Martini," I say, "But no olive, I can't stand them. With a cherry instead please."

He smirks at me again and then turns his attention to the barman. "Martini, no olive but a cherry and a Scotch on the rocks for me."

I glance over my shoulder quickly at my friends, seeing that everyone is wrapped up in their own conversations, apart from Alice who catches my eye and gives me the thumbs up. I giggle quietly to myself before I twist my head back just in time to pick up my drink which the man beside me hands to me. "Thanks," I say as he then picks up his own drink and holds it out towards me. I tap my glass with his and take a sip, finding myself staring at his lips for a second longer than would be deemed appropriate for two strangers who had just met.

"So, birthday girl, are you enjoying your night?" he asks me as he places his drink down on the bar beside him.

"I really am," I respond as I lower my drink to my lap. "My best friend Emmett planned the whole thing, it's really nice to get everyone together every once and a while, you know, we all seem to be so busy..." I'm rambling. I forget what I'm saying and then realise that he's been referring to me as birthday girl because I haven't even introduced myself to the gorgeous man who has just bought me a birthday drink. "I'm Bella, Bella Swan by the way."

He extended his hand out in front of him and I stop fiddling with the glass and offer mine, which he grasps in his and he proceeds to give me a strong and firm handshake. "Nice to meet you Bella, I'm Edward Cullen."

He didn't let go of my hand, and I was secretly pleased to be touching him. He smiled at me and I smiled back, before it got kind of awkward, only because I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he was still holding my hand. Should I let go? I wondered to myself.

"So what's with the cherry?" he asks as he lowers his gaze to my drink, before raising it back up to my face and he's smirking at me again, clearly he finds the whole no olive thing amusing.

"I just don't like olives, and it wouldn't be a Martini if it didn't have something round in it, would it?" I say. The truth is, I hate olives but I love glace cherries, and mixed with all that martini, they're simply divine. It's the best part of the drink.

"Fair enough," he says with a shrug. I watch his eyes flutter over my face, and I'm completely drawn to him, which is weird because I don't think I've ever felt this strong a connection with anybody before. "What do you do, Bella?" he asks.

I take another sip of my drink and then lick my lips as I lower the glass back down to my lap, before I proceed to run my finger around the rim, only for something to occupy myself with. "I work for an events company. We pretty much do anything; we're based in the West End, and do premieres to weddings to large corporate events. I love it." I can't help but beam whenever I talk about my work, which I guess is a product of how much of my life it takes over, but that's okay because I really do mean it when I say that I love it. I sneak another glance over his body, wondering what he does for a living. Usually, with the variety of clients I meet I can place people rather quickly, but this Edward character was a complete mystery. "And what about you?" I say, before realising I want to say his name, "Edward?"

"I run my own record company." he said with a beaming smile that matched my own, clearly he loved his work too.

"So what are you celebrating?" I ask.

He straightens up in his stool as if he's really proud of what he's going to tell me. "We actually just signed this amazing new band, got into a bit of a war with another company but luckily we won the band over, so I'm incredibly happy. It's a bit different to what we usually go with but we're trying to explore new avenues and I think this band might be just the thing we've been waiting for." He then stares down at his empty glass. "It's been rather exhausting though, but we got there in the end."

I take another sip of my drink and sigh to myself. "That's why I think it's so important to enjoy your career. I see more of my work colleagues than I do my friends and family." I stare forlornly at nothing and think about my own mum and sister, who live just outside London. I know I should see more of them and make more of an effort, but work seems to have completely taken over my life. I know partly that's my fault, not wanting to slow down and using it as a reason to keep myself busy ever since my dad had died, but still, it had been a couple of years since that happened, and I really should take the time to go and see them. I glanced back at Edward, wanting to change the subject as I don't want to dwell on thoughts of my dad, not when I would only get upset about it. I smile over at him and find that once again, he's looking intently at me. "Well you must throw the odd party every now and then, why don't I give you my card and the next party you need to plan you can give me a call?" I place my drink down on the bar and rummage through my purse, and then pull out a business card which I hand over to Edward.

He takes the business card from me and stares at it for an excruciatingly long time. I feel my cheeks begin to get hot again, was that too presumptuous of me? I feel like I need to let him know that I had given him that card for business purposes, not as a way of me hitting on him. "My bosses would absolutely love me if I got a big player like you on our books, and we'd do a really good job, you won't regret asking us."

I needed to look away from him and so I glanced over at the table which housed my friends. All of them were looking at me, wondering presumably what I was up to. They were all trying to be subtle about it, apart from Emmett who was waving his hands around like a madman, indicating that I needed to get back to the table for some reason or another. I returned my gaze to Edward, who was still looking at that business card of mine, and I could sense that something was wrong. A thousand thoughts entered my mind, most of which revolved around whether I would ever see him again, and the thought of not doing so filled me with such sadness, I honestly didn't know I could feel this way about someone I had just met.

"Thanks for the card, Bella," he eventually said quietly.

"You're welcome." I returned with a smile as I closed my bag and tucked it under my arm.

"But I can't take it."

I could feel that my face dropped completely. I bit down on my lip and looked right into his green eyes, wondering why he would say something like that. It was just a business card for crying out loud. I didn't know what the hell he was playing at, staring at me for half the night, buying me drinks and then all I do is offer him a damn business card and he has the audacity to reject it?

"Bella, if I took this card, I wouldn't be ringing you to throw a party for my company," he said as he continued to hold my stare.

The silence seemed never ending. I was getting so caught up in his eyes I honestly felt like I was drowning in him. My heart rate had increased exponentially and felt like it was going to burst out of my chest at any given moment. He wanted to call me for non-business purposes? "And what's so wrong about that?" I ask, wondering what his point was.

He twiddled my business card between his fingers and stared at it as if he was contemplating something. "I'd be calling you, Bella, because I think you're absolutely stunning."

"Well then I would be happy to answer your call, Edward," I purr at him as I flash him a sexy smile, feeling incredibly relieved that he felt this weird connection we seemed to share too.

He returned his gaze to mine and I could tell he was debating whether to tell me something or not. "And it would be wrong of me to call you because I'm not in a position to act on the fact that I think you're stunning, because I'm married, and I also have two beautiful children."

I stare back at him as he admitted that fact to me. I looked down at his left hand briefly, as if I wanted to check that he wasn't lying to me and sure enough, there sat a wedding band on his finger. I didn't know why I felt so betrayed, I'd only know him for all of five minutes but it really did feel like he'd tricked me or something. I was angry at him, but then quickly realised that all he'd done was buy me a drink and chatted to me for a while, he didn't owe me anything. In fact, he was one of the good guys; he'd been honest with me, which I guess was something I should be pleased about. I realised that I must have got it all so very wrong, I must have misread the signals or something. I then look back up at him and see how sad he looks, which baffles me completely.

"I couldn't take my eyes off you though, despite how much I wanted to. I tried to stop staring at you but then you walked past me and..." he sighed deeply as he looked away from me for a second, "I'm not a bastard, Bella. I don't sit in bars, chatting up random women. Birthday or no birthday."

There was something about the fact that he was being so sincere and honest with me that made me want to laugh. Maybe it was all the nervousness which seemed to be clouding us, maybe it was the alcohol, but before I knew what was happening, I burst into a fit of giggles, and Edward was soon joining in with me.

"What the hell are we laughing at?" he asked through his chuckles.

"I have no idea, but at least it broke that awkward moment." I giggle, before I glance back over at my friends. Emmett is still waving at me and mouths 'birthday cake' at me, as if he doesn't want the others to know that he's let on that my surprise is on the way. I sigh as I turn my attention back to Edward. "Listen, my friends need me back at the table, my so called surprise birthday cake is about to be presented to me."

I watch as Edward nods his head and he looks at me like he doesn't want me to leave. His eyes are sparkling at me again and he throws one of his gorgeous smiles at me. "You are a lovely girl, Bella; whoever ends up with you is a very special man. If things were different..."

"But they're not, are they." I say, cutting him off, because I don't want him to give me the whole speech. I reach over and place my hand on top of his. "It was really nice talking to you, Edward." I say, meeting his gaze. A thousand and one words were said with that look, and I felt rather despondent that things couldn't go any further with him than they already had.

"I hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday," he says and then squeezes my hand tight, "It was so lovely to have met you."

I smile sadly at him and then reached over for my business card, only to have it snatched out of my grasp again.

"I think I will keep it after all," he says.

I look confused for a second, before I smile at him, wondering if he really is going to call to ask me to organise his next party and then wander back over to my table, which once again has returned to being the loudest in the bar. They are all singing 'happy birthday' at the top of their lungs for the second time that evening and there's this huge cake waiting for me with twenty five candles placed on it. I lean down and breathe in deeply as I prepare myself to blow them all out.

"Don't forget to make a wish Bella," Emmett yells over at me.

I lift my eyes and smile over at him, before glancing over at Edward, who is also smiling back at me. I close my eyes and make my wish, before I blow all of the candles on the cake out. I then sit back and smile at my friends before I throw a glance back over at Edward, only I'm met with nothing but an empty bar stool and one empty Scotch glass with an almost empty Martini glass next to it.

I'd forgotten to eat the cherry.

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